The Beijing Olympic Games will be steeped in Chinese superstition, with the opening ceremony to start at the numerically auspicious time of 8pm on August 8, 2008, state press said on Friday.
Beijing Mayor Wang Qishan made the announcement during a speech to the China Academy of Sciences, the Beijing Times reported.
According to ancient Chinese numerology, eight is the luckiest number as its pronunciation rhymes with ”fa,” the word for ”to make”, as in ”to make money.”
”A good opening ceremony could count for more than half of whether the Olympic Games will be successful,” Wang was quoted as telling the scholars.
Although temperatures in Beijing are expected to be hot in August, the timing of the games will not change due to conflicting sporting events in the United States, like the United States Open tennis tournament and the baseball World Series in September, Wang said.
The games are scheduled to run from August 8-24.
Wang said that a team of artistic, history and dance experts were being put together to design the opening ceremony.
More than three million overseas visitors are expected to visit Beijing for the Olympics, including 20Â 000 athletes and 30Â 000 journalists, he said. – Sapa-AFP